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I'm not much of a duck hunter, but my son has really gotten into it with a bunch of his frat brothers. They have been doing well on small ducks this season with the occasional big duck. But they aren't picky. Just hunting public walk in areas
 

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megalomaniac said:
I'm not much of a duck hunter, but my son has really gotten into it with a bunch of his frat brothers. They have been doing well on small ducks this season with the occasional big duck. But they aren't picky. Just hunting public walk in areas
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Just say no to quack!
 
I have had a theory for several years that eventually the majority of duck will quit migrating just like the Canada geese did. Some people new to duck hunting might not know but Canada geese use to migrate south just like ducks did. West TN and southern KY and IL were the world capital of goose hunting back in the 1980s and 1990s. I am sure before then as well. When i was getting into hunting in the early 1990 there were as many people that had goose pits and mainly chased Canada geese as there were duck hunters. But around the same time as no till farming got popular the geese stopped migrating this far south.

Well i have been thinking and always included it in talking with my hunting buddies. Eventually ducks will stop migrating if people keep flooding more fields and leaving hundreds of ac of standing corn north of us. Why would a duck fly past all that cover and food just to get to another state. That happens over a few generations of ducks and there will be very few ducks that ever knew that they were supposed to fly south for the winter. Yes a really hard freeze might push some south. But it will have to be a long term freeze. Recently I have noticed most ducks just hold tight in freezing temperatures to keep water open. They will move a short distance to find food during the warmer part of the day and return to the open water. They will not leave the area unless the really low temperature last more the 5 days. I think the only way you guys will see good numbers of ducks this year is if we get temperatures in the single digits from central IL all the way up through Canada. But in a few weeks all of the northern states waterfowl seasons close and they will have no hunting pressure from central MO north. All of those flooded corn fields will be wide open with nothing to bother the ducks.
 
Dodge Man said:
I have had a theory for several years that eventually the majority of duck will quit migrating just like the Canada geese did. Some people new to duck hunting might not know but Canada geese use to migrate south just like ducks did. West TN and southern KY and IL were the world capital of goose hunting back in the 1980s and 1990s. I am sure before then as well. When i was getting into hunting in the early 1990 there were as many people that had goose pits and mainly chased Canada geese as there were duck hunters. But around the same time as no till farming got popular the geese stopped migrating this far south.

Well i have been thinking and always included it in talking with my hunting buddies. Eventually ducks will stop migrating if people keep flooding more fields and leaving hundreds of ac of standing corn north of us. Why would a duck fly past all that cover and food just to get to another state. That happens over a few generations of ducks and there will be very few ducks that ever knew that they were supposed to fly south for the winter. Yes a really hard freeze might push some south. But it will have to be a long term freeze. Recently I have noticed most ducks just hold tight in freezing temperatures to keep water open. They will move a short distance to find food during the warmer part of the day and return to the open water. They will not leave the area unless the really low temperature last more the 5 days. I think the only way you guys will see good numbers of ducks this year is if we get temperatures in the single digits from central IL all the way up through Canada. But in a few weeks all of the northern states waterfowl seasons close and they will have no hunting pressure from central MO north. All of those flooded corn fields will be wide open with nothing to bother the ducks.
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I have been saying the same thing.
I can remember the days of Vs of Canadas flying over day and night. I hunted geese in Ballard Ky and there were pits everywhere and a few duck blinds, now I don't know if anyone has a goose pit.
 
I grew up in WV. We never hunter ducks/geese just turkey, grouse, and just listened to the few quail we had. When I was stationed at Minot AFB, ND some guys asked it I wanted to hunt geese. Hell yeah! I shot 2, peeled them out and cooked them. Lesson to the story...if you can't roll something in flour and fry it and butter and make it taste good, you probably shouldn't eat it😆
 
TnKen said:
I have been saying the same thing.
I can remember the days of Vs of Canadas flying over day and night. I hunted geese in Ballard Ky and there were pits everywhere and a few duck blinds, now I don't know if anyone has a goose pit.
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I remember this day 1983, that night about midnight me and my brother were outside smoking and we heard geese flying south. It was about zero that night.
 
Dodge Man said:
I have had a theory for several years that eventually the majority of duck will quit migrating just like the Canada geese did. Some people new to duck hunting might not know but Canada geese use to migrate south just like ducks did. West TN and southern KY and IL were the world capital of goose hunting back in the 1980s and 1990s. I am sure before then as well. When i was getting into hunting in the early 1990 there were as many people that had goose pits and mainly chased Canada geese as there were duck hunters. But around the same time as no till farming got popular the geese stopped migrating this far south.

Well i have been thinking and always included it in talking with my hunting buddies. Eventually ducks will stop migrating if people keep flooding more fields and leaving hundreds of ac of standing corn north of us. Why would a duck fly past all that cover and food just to get to another state. That happens over a few generations of ducks and there will be very few ducks that ever knew that they were supposed to fly south for the winter. Yes a really hard freeze might push some south. But it will have to be a long term freeze. Recently I have noticed most ducks just hold tight in freezing temperatures to keep water open. They will move a short distance to find food during the warmer part of the day and return to the open water. They will not leave the area unless the really low temperature last more the 5 days. I think the only way you guys will see good numbers of ducks this year is if we get temperatures in the single digits from central IL all the way up through Canada. But in a few weeks all of the northern states waterfowl seasons close and they will have no hunting pressure from central MO north. All of those flooded corn fields will be wide open with nothing to bother the ducks.
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Yeah I remember vividly when my dad took me on a duck hunt with Steve McAdams on the TN river 30 something years ago and he used to blow canada goose calls at ducks. ha ha. Imagine someone doing that now... Times are a changing...
 
Bgoodman30 said:
Yeah I remember vividly when my dad took me on a duck hunt with Steve McAdams on the TN river 30 something years ago and he used to blow canada goose calls at ducks. ha ha. Imagine someone doing that now... Times are a changing...
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It still works I promise you lol.
 
My place borders the Duck River Refuge on KY Lake, and yesterday morning hunters were pounding the snot out of birds on the east side, but I didn't hear a shot from the west side. Wednesday evening had huge flocks of ducks flying over my place heading out to the Buffalo River bottomlands, but just at dark.
 
We've been pretty lucky so far this season. Had some really good days, then some slower. But with that said, do need some weather to hopefully stir things up a good bit. Regardless, we'll keep going.
 

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